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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Paula Cocozza

A new start after 60: I like to keep busy – so I built a hotel

‘I look out of my window every day and get goose bumps’ … Joan Gallagher with her husband John.
‘I look out of my window every day and get goose bumps’ … Joan Gallagher with her husband John. Photograph: Handout

Joan Gallagher and her husband, John, used to enjoy weekend walks through Spain’s Priorat wine region, driving out from their home in Sitges, Catalonia. They had moved to Spain from Ireland in 2001; two years ago they opened a hotel in the former creamery next door to where they used to stay.

Their four boys “were grown up and doing their own thing. I thought, ‘I don’t want to retire – don’t want to sit back on my laurels and do nothing. John and I like to keep busy,” says Joan, 66.

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